
I was in Tucson back in August. I went out to an area that is called Grant's Pass in which is basically a road from Tucson to Old Tucson. It is short scenic ride with a parking area that overlooks Old Tucson (lower left).
The first picture is a composite image of two different pictures taken at different exposures. They are overlayed and the unwanted area is erased. Even though I used split neutral density (ND) filters, it is impossible to get the sky and the foreground to be both properly exposed. If I shoot the sky then the land and mountains are a silhouette. If I shoot for the land then the sky is blown out.
I have recently tried the photomerge feature in CS3 but prefer the two exposures, whether done in camera or double processed Raw files. It is much easier to control the aspects of each photo that I like.
In all photos the camera was tripod mounted, especially important if doing a HDR (High Dynamic Range) composite.
The next photo I used the long zoom to capture the mountains in the background.
The storm that was coming in was pretty active with lightening. Below are a couple of pics taken after leaving Grant's Pass. For some reason I didn't like being so high up with so much lightening. I was taking long exposures of 20 seconds to try and capture a strike.

Wow Fab - was going to say that the Pass photos were excellent, first one I would crop a bit to move the horizon up or down from center, but the second one is perfect!!! Then I saw the lightning - so spectacular I don't know what to say - wait, yes I do - FRAME & HANG!!
- the EYES have it
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Phenominal shots, all 4. Personally, I'd crop the bottoms of both sunsets a big, move the horizon off center.
- Contumelious
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Excellent. I've never been lucky enough to catch a lightning strike...but then we don't have much out here.
- petercallesen.com
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Absolutely WONDERFUL!!!
- Danno
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All are good...but your lightening shots are exceptional!
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I love the Grant's Pass. Your exposure technique worked well. Good catch with the two lightning shots...I wonder what the would happen if you used the same technique as Grant's Pass on the lightning?
- through my eye
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Lightning catches are quite nice and the composition with the cactus is good. Second shot seems soft to me. First shot is well done HDR.
- blow.....hard
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colorful...and well done.....Aaron did have a good suggestion.
- With these Hands
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WOW on those lighning strikes, ok WOW on the rest, too. Don't blame ya for not wanting to be so high!
- A quack with an camera
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